The present invention relates to a filtering apparatus. More particularly this invention concerns a filter element usable in a filtering apparatus wherein a separable suspension to be filtered is forced under pressure into the filter element.
A filtering apparatus is known having a housing defining a closed chamber in which is provided a hollow shaft carrying a plurality of axially spaced filter elements. Each of these elements comprises a support normally of porous construction and a filter cloth secured to at least one face of the support.
As a rule such supports are round so that the filter element closely fills the interior of the chamber. Such shape also facilitates rotating the filter elements during sluicing-off of filter cake that has built up on the filter elements. The filter elements in this arrangement are rotated as a liquid is squirted on them to loosen the filter cake that is then centrifugally driven off.
It is also known to have nonrotatable rectangular filter elements provided in a chamber in such manner as to be nonrotatable. With the rotatable filter elements the filtrate is drawn off through the central hollow shaft on which the rotatable elements are carried, but with the nonrotatable elements the filtrate is drawn off through channels that surround the filter surfaces.
Various prior-art filters are described in German Pat. No. 877,742, U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,107,217 and 3,190,449 as well as in the article by B. Spiekermeier and J. Stebler appearing in Maschinenmarkt on July 2, 1974 (Vogel-Verlag Wurzburg; vol. 53).